C++ singleton vs. global static object

Question

A friend of mine today asked me why should he prefer use of singleton over global static object? The way I started it to explain was that the singleton can have state vs. s

Answer 1

OK, there are two reasons to go with a singleton really. One is the static order thing everyone's talking about.

The other is to prevent someone from doing something like this when using your code:

CoolThing blah;
gs_coolGlobalStaticThing = blah;

or, even worse:

gs_coolGlobalStaticThing = {};

The encapsulation aspect will protect your instance from idiots and malicious jerks.